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The story of Pax Dickinson

Can you remember way back to 2012, before the world seemingly lost its fucking mind and everything became racist, sexist or jew controlled? I can. I came across a very funny story the other day, by a man named Pax Dickinson.

Pax, was a tech nerd that got into some twitter bullshit, before twitter bullshit was really a thing. It cost him his hard won career.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." ~ Voltaire

"I do think that most atheists are fat out of shape faggots that would be ok with other men shagging their women. The few that can actually get a woman. General failures at life in every regard. " Zavon

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

Here is the full thing from Reddit. I hate reading all that Twitter bullshit, its hard to follow and you miss the context:

Okay. in case some of you can't access twitter, for whatever reason, here's the full thing:

Jessica Price:

Since I spent all kinds of time saying it on a Reddit AMA, and I haven't talked about actual game dev on Twitter in a while, here's a thread about writing for the PC character in an MMO.
The dirty secret is I'm not sure if it's possible to make an MMORPG (or CRPG) character compelling, because people have different expectations about what that character will be, as opposed to a pre-designed character in a single-player game. People booting up Bioshock know they're playing Jack. People starting Dishonored know they're playing Corvo. People beginning Tomb Raider know they're playing Lara Croft. So in those games, you have more wiggle room to make the protagonist an actual character.

Whereas in an RPG, where the player chooses all kinds of character options and names their character and designs their face and so on, they feel more ownership over that character. They're not playing a character YOU designed--they're playing a character THEY designed. So if Jack or Lara or Corvo says or does something the player doesn't feel that THEY would say or do, the player's more forgiving, because they have the expectation that they're piloting a character someone else created. N.B. that I'm not talking about overall plot objectives/quests. Players know going in that the game is going to be telling them what to do, and their character is going to do it, and that holds true even when they've "created" the character.

But the *interpersonal* stuff, the PC's REACTIONS, players respond strongly to. Some people don't like it if they think their character's responding in ways that make them too much of an asshole. Some don't like it if their character's responses seem weak. So, basically, most things that you'd do writing-wise to give a character, well, CHARACTER, are going to upset a large contingent, maybe even a majority, of your players. So--I know I've said this before on Twitter, but it's still going to weird people out, but please bear with me--you have to construct your MMO/RPG's PC character's dialogue as if they were Bella Swan from Twilight. To be clear, I don't think Twilight is good writing. I don't think Bella Swan's a well-constructed book character. And I think people who criticize Twilight for the latter are correct but also missing the reason for Twilight's popularity.

Because Twilight isn't the love story of Bella and Edward. It's the *experience of being loved by Edward.* Which is why Bella's constructed the way she is. Bella Swan is a carefully constructed blank space, with JUST enough personality to function. All of her personality traits are chosen to avoid preventing the reader from inserting themselves into the space she holds in the story. She's a bit of a klutz, but JUST enough to make her endearing, not enough to prevent her from actually doing anything the story needs her to do. She's a little bit awkward. JUST enough to be relatable but not enough to actually hinder her. And so on. And essentially, we have to write the player character in an MMO/RPG the same way.

Specifically in GW2, in the Living World, we can write the Commander with a bit of wry exasperation, a hint of impatience, a touch of "okay, I'm done fooling around with this crap and I'm going to take charge," but most of their lines have to be pretty devoid of personality. Because if we give them too much personality, it might clash with how the player is imagining Their Commander. So, how do we tell a TV-like season of story with a protagonist who can't really have a personality?

The answer to that, and I dunno, maybe this is too much of how the sausage gets made but whaddaya want from me, any sense of shame I had burned out a long time ago: SLEIGHT OF HAND. We SUGGEST that the Commander has a personality in how the other characters interact with and react to them. Even there, we have to be super-careful. We can't even have THEM directly characterize the Commander. You'll rarely hear a character say anything about what the Commander always does or doesn't do, except when it's PURELY factual because it's something the game design FORCED the PC to do. E.g. "the Commander always finds a way!" because literally if you don't we'll resurrect you until you do.

We have NPCs react to you with affection, or irritation, or leeriness, or whatever, to suggest that your character has regular habits and ways of interacting that build these relationships. But for the most part, they don't. The PC is who you imagine them to be, and the NPCs react in ways that have to FEEL personal, and build a story, while not conflicting with whatever you're imagining your character's personality to be. We WANT you to project. Which makes writing the NPCs' relationships with the PC basically like writing horoscopes. It has to feel specific and personal while actually being universal.

So:

A) VERY delicate sketches of non-objectionable personality traits (like a hint of wryness or world-weariness)

B) NPCs that behave as if your character has a distinct personality while not doing so in ways that actually identify what it is

C) one-sided relationship-building

Voila. An MMO/RPG character. Needless to say, a lot of the color comes from NPCs' relationships with EACH OTHER, even though we try to keep it centered on the PC as much as possible. It is a constant, very fragile calibration. We don't always get it right. Incidentally, if you've played Ep 3 of this season of GW2's Living World, you've seen this sort of writing taken to an extreme in Joko's final monologue. Almost everything he says is about actions the game has forced you to take, not your own character traits, and he's clearly projecting when he talks about what you were thinking, but it's--hopefully!--constructed in a way that feels personal, like he's twisting the knife.

Deroir:

Really interesting thread to read! However, allow me to disagree *slightly*. I dont believe the issue lies in the MMORPG genre itself (as your wording seemingly suggest). I believe the issue lies in the contraints of the Living Story's narrative design; (1 of 3)

When you want the outcome to be the same across the board for all players' experiences, then yes, by design you are extremely limited in how you can contruct the personality of the PC. (2 of 3)

But, if instead players were given the option to meaningfully express *their* character through branching dialogue options (which also aren't just on the checklist for an achievement that forces you through all dialogue options), (3 of 4 cause I count seemingly...) then perhaps players would be more invested in the roleplaying aspect of that particular MMORPG. Nonetheless, I appreciate the insightful thread! (End)

Jessica Price:

thanks for trying to tell me what we do internally, my dude 9_9

Deroir:

You getting mad at my obvious attempt at creating dialogue and discussion with you, instead of just replying that I am wrong or otherwise correct me in my false assumptions, is really just disheartening for me. You do you though. I'm sorry if it offended. I'll leave you to it.

This is the context for the linked tweet:

Jessica Price:

Today in being a female game dev:

"Allow me--a person who does not work with you--explain to you how you do your job."

Last edited by Zavon; 07-05-2018 at 10:16 AM.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." ~ Voltaire

"I do think that most atheists are fat out of shape faggots that would be ok with other men shagging their women. The few that can actually get a woman. General failures at life in every regard. " Zavon

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

I'm glad I don't play Guild War 2 anymore. Between this stupid shit (including the male devs that came out and supported her for doing this) and the whole "change our logo to support gays" they did over the last month, I can tell I'll have to drop them for being another socio-political mouthpiece.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." ~ Voltaire

"I do think that most atheists are fat out of shape faggots that would be ok with other men shagging their women. The few that can actually get a woman. General failures at life in every regard. " Zavon

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

Originally Posted by Zavon

I'm glad I don't play Guild War 2 anymore. Between this stupid shit (including the male devs that came out and supported her for doing this) and the whole "change our logo to support gays" they did over the last month, I can tell I'll have to drop them for being another socio-political mouthpiece.

This is the reason we can't have nice things. Every attempted bugman centric escape route is cut off by infiltrating far leftists.

"The argument that “people now have more freedom than ever” is based on the fact that we are allowed to do almost anything we please as long as it has no practical consequences."

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

Originally Posted by Marou

This is the reason we can't have nice things. Every attempted bugman centric escape route is cut off by infiltrating far leftists.

Yeah, I wonder how we as consumers can help curb this bullshit though? I thought about going to Areanet and telling them that I will never purchase another product from them again, as long as they continue to employee assholes like that.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." ~ Voltaire

"I do think that most atheists are fat out of shape faggots that would be ok with other men shagging their women. The few that can actually get a woman. General failures at life in every regard. " Zavon

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

The whole GW2 subreddit blew up over this, but many are correct in saying that the only thing that is going to change from ArenaNet is most likely internal policies and twitter policies.

If you look up this 'woman's twitter account its full of leftist-hate-speech. "mansplaning" "dude bro's" "manfeels"

Yeah dude, I saw something else that she did, where she cried about some tournament not having women. SMH. She's been doing this shit for a while so you KNOW they know.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." ~ Voltaire

"I do think that most atheists are fat out of shape faggots that would be ok with other men shagging their women. The few that can actually get a woman. General failures at life in every regard. " Zavon

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

I hate when I'm forced to leave my 'bubble' and have to hear from the morons who I can with 99% certainty must live in urban America. Talking about how identity politics are valid, and white males can't understand the the struggle that women, gays, colored people, Asians, and queers face. Yet when pressed for examples of privilege it's always a trip down the history tube to acts that were committed by people who aren't even still alive, or are so much of an outlier in their group that they're falling into the exact trap that they are trying to spring on you. Generalizing the actions of a few whackadoos and extremists to the whole of a populace. Yet here they are saying that all white males are the devil and could never empathize with the struggles everyone else faces. Well guess what susan, you're creating a struggle for me right now, not to want to reach through the computer and strangler your dumb fucking face because you're both not listening or understanding the POINT. Which to copy posta some posts I made on TwoXChromeosomes where some woman was complaining that she was invalidated because she is a cis white female (aka "a white woman" I honestly don't understand the whole 'cis' terminology.... ughhhhhhH) and as such cannot be an ally of feminism/gays.

"The point is, you can either force diversity through this 'privilege' shaming that is about as valid as slut shaming or racist stereotyping, or you can understand that diversity is about common grounds and sharing those experiences while understand that people each have their own experiences and expectations. Generalizations and identity politics are just other versions of attempt to invalidate the individual to fit your narrative."

"Using identity politics to push some abstract notion of privilege on others is just the worst. Working more to divide than bring together. Experiences are meant to be shared and learned from, that is the positivity of diversity. Diversity is a detriment when it is forced upon people through this game of privilege vs under privilege where people must give up or defer to the under privilege because they are 'owed' it.

I owe you nothing due to the actions of someone else who shares a trait with myself, and vice versa. When we can remember that we all share the common trait of humanity and the certainty of death maybe we can work towards greatness."

Re: The story of Pax Dickinson

NIOCE! That makes me so fucking happy. Who was the other employee? Two beta males came to her defense. Do we know which other one got fired?

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." ~ Voltaire

"I do think that most atheists are fat out of shape faggots that would be ok with other men shagging their women. The few that can actually get a woman. General failures at life in every regard. " Zavon